Seventh year, and it's still not over
by ix-tab
Summary: Duo feels the harsh, vicious bite of guilt deep inside of him, and the only thing that calms him is the taste of Wufei, the touch of Heero. 1x5x2.Written for loreleibunny as a gift.


For loreleibunny…

Purple is the colour the church goes when the sun is setting and the evening light shoots through the stained glass shining over the altar.

Wufei walks up, unaware of his own elegant movements. Heero waits quietly in the door, arms crossed. Duo is kneeling down in one of the pews. His violet eyes are closed. His face is blank, free of any expression, but that is not a good thing A string of cheap plastic rosary beads entwine in, out and around his clasped hands, and his mouth is moving in unvoiced whispers.

"Maxwell." Wufei says and his name seems to mean things like _why are you here, and I already know the answer, _and _I'm worried about you_. Duo sighs but he stands up, nods at Heero who looks at him, without judgement. He had known that they would follow him. None of them could have let him leave in the condition he had been in a few hours ago. And even now, Wufei is careful not to crowd, to touch him. They all know their habits, how easy it is to snap. Of the three of them, Wufei is the most volatile, but Duo has his moments, and they all know it.

For a moment, a stranger looks at Wufei, wearing Duo's face. He has an expression that scares Wufei, and the three men stand in the grand old church in uneasy silence. The church smells of sacred things, incense and prayer. Duo breathes in deep this solemn, familiar atmosphere, and the uneasy, faintly dangerous moment is broken. Duo smiles a little oddly at the two of them, and he can see Wufei's urge to touch him being stifled. He places a gentle hand on the small of Wufei's back and the three men leave the church silently, but they stop at the small, dilapidated graveyard at the front of the church. It has those subtle marks that are bomb scars, and those take the land a long time to heal from. But eventually, Wufei knows he has to say it, has to let Duo gain his release.

"It's seven years today." He says, and Heero takes a deep breath, calm as ever. Wufei and Heero watch Duo's face darken and they wait.

"Damn it! Damn it!" He screams, and smashes his fist into a near by tree. He ignores the pain, and screams wordlessly.

"I…I have these dreams. The blood, the blood looks almost purple on my hands. And I am smiling. I like the blood, the death. I am a monster." Wufei stifles a sob at the pain in Duo's voice. Heero speaks.

"We have all been that monster. That is what we are. Killers. The deaths of thousands are on our heads. But we are also something more." Duo pulls out of his despair from the surprise of hearing the normally monosyllabic man speak at such length. He looks at Heero, and his eyes are hidden by his fringe. A bright spot of colour blooms in his cheek and he speaks with such control.

"You know what I am, what I was made to be. A weapon, the 'perfect soldier'. But you, you and Wufei have taught me that I am more than that, that we are more then the death we have brought!" Heero finishes his speech and stalks back to the car. Duo blinks.

"Are you OK? Maxwell…Duo, answer me!" Growls Wufei, and then he squeaks as Duo crushes the smaller man against him.

"Thank you, Wufei. Thank you for coming to get me, for not letting me sit there and stew." Duo says and Wufei blushes, just a little.

"And besides, I was just gonna sit there, being all maudlin and crazy, and that's really more your thing." Duo says cheekily, and winces when he gets an elbow in the stomach.

Duo grabs Wufei's arm, as he makes to go to the car, and pulls him into a sweet short kiss that leaves Wufei looking a little dazed.

Later on, in the car the scent of the church is replaced with the sweeter smell of sex-sweat, and Wufei's slender form is sandwiched between Duo's and Heero's more solid bodies. The sounds of praise are replaced with the soft sobs of Wufei's breath, the wet sound of flesh on flesh.

And Duo realises that his prayers had been answered, even before he had offered them up.

He smiles.

---End


End file.
